Strategic Plan

1. Strategic Plan Community Unit School District 300

2. Strategic Planning Process • Surveys to Students, 8th and 12th graders 80% response rate • Employees, all groups Surveys, 35% response rate Focus groups and individual interviews • Surveys to Families 25% response rate • Community Members Surveys,15% response rate Focus groups and individual interviews • Board of Education Individual Interviews

3. Mission Statement Based on research conducted as part of the strategic planning process, a revised mission statement was adopted in order to be more reflective of the values of the District’s many stakeholders: The mission of Community Unit School District 300 is to ensure our students reach their unique potential as self-directed learners and responsible citizens.

4. Vision Statement Based upon the research and findings, the following vision statement reflects the ultimate organization that Community Unit School District 300 stakeholders want the District to become. The Vision Statement will serve as a catalyst for change to which stakeholders can refer when making decisions for the future. The vision of Community Unit School District 300 is to provide an exemplary education in a safe and rewarding environment.

5. Guiding Principles The District’s mission and vision statements are enhanced with additional stakeholder values that emerged through the research process. The purpose of the guiding principles is to establish a collective set of main beliefs and values that determine how the school district will work together to successfully accomplish the goals, objectives, and activities that constitute the Strategic Plan. • We believe all students can learn and be successful. • We believe a challenging curriculum, effective instruction, and rigorous standards are essential to prepare students for the future. • We believe the use of research, assessment, measurement, and accountability can improve the quality of education. • We believe professional development, supervision, and evaluation increase the quality of teaching and learning. • We believe trust, collaboration, transparency, and active involvement of stakeholders are necessary for a climate of continual improvement in a diverse environment. • We believe important and relevant information must be shared clearly and consistently throughout the District community. • We believe our schools and communities are strengthened through fiscal stability and effective facility and resource management.

6. Strategic Goal 1: Challenge all students to reach their unique potential. Objectives: • Provide a rigorous curriculum that challenges all students. • Hold students to the highest academic standards. • Use assessment to support learning and improve instruction. • Align curriculum and assessments to the Common Core and other learning standards. • Focus on curriculum, instruction, and assessment that lead to student achievement, mastery, and growth. • Prepare students to be ready for college and career. It is essential to create an exceptional learning environment that motivates, challenges, and supports all students so they can achieve their academic potential every year, while preparing them for college and career opportunities.

7. Strategic Goal 2: Create a school environment conducive for learning. Objectives: • Maintain appropriate class size at all grade levels. • Hire and retain quality teachers and staff to reflect the district’s diversity. • Collect, analyze, and assess student social-emotional growth and its impact on the school environment. • Develop and enforce an equitable District-wide discipline policy. • Update the long-term technology plan to effectively use instructional technology and provide professional development. • Continually review the District safety plans. Students need a safe, stimulating, and rewarding environment to learn and grow.

8. Strategic Goal 3: Ensure long-term fiscal stability for programs, technology, infrastructure, and facilities. Objectives: • Examine and evaluate program effectiveness within the District. • Give priority to teaching and instruction when making fiscal and resource allocations. • Develop a plan that addresses enrollment, boundary alignment, and district facility needs. • Improve practices and procedures related to purchasing and maintaining supplies, materials, and equipment. • Allocate funds to implement a comprehensive technology plan that addresses infrastructure, hardware, and support. • Research alternative sources of funding. • Develop a plan that addresses facility improvement and maintenance. The corner stone of any school district’s future is protecting its long-term investment through prudent financial and facilities management. Fiscal stability is critical as the district faces ongoing financial challenges.

9. Strategic Goal 4: Engage every sector of our diverse community in authentic, specific, and systematic ways to listen, learn, and serve our common interest. Objectives: • Ensure an environment that fosters dialogue internally and externally. • Provide transparency in decision-making processes. • Regularly monitor and report stakeholder input. • Target communication relevant to appropriate stakeholders. Time and resources can be saved, and effectiveness improved, by focusing communication based on District and stakeholder priorities.

10. Strategic Goal 5: Create a culture for continuous quality improvement and accountability forDistrict programming and staff. Objectives: • Develop and implement administrator performance evaluations in compliance with the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA). • Develop and implement teacher performance evaluations in compliance with the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA). • Develop and implement non-certified staff evaluations in compliance with relevant statutes. • Review district professional development plans annually for all staff. Commitment to accountability and continuous quality improvement is necessary to improve effectiveness in the teaching-learning process, foster a collaborative work environment, and tap the expertise of faculty and staff.

11. Example of the work to be done Strategic Goal 3: Ensure long-term fiscal stability for programs, technology, infrastructure, and facilities. (Project Manager: Susan Harkin) Objectives: • Examine and evaluate program effectiveness within the District. (Deb Hartman) • Give priority to teaching and instruction when making fiscal and resource allocations. (MeriAnn Besonen) • Develop a plan that addresses enrollment, boundary alignment, and district facility needs. (Church Bumbales) • Improve practices and procedures related to purchasing and maintaining supplies, materials, and equipment. (Diane White) • Allocate funds to implement a comprehensive technology plan that addresses infrastructure, hardware, and support. (Jason Emricson) • Research alternative sources of funding. (Luz Baez) • Develop a plan that addresses facility improvement and maintenance. (Dave Ulm)